Safety-gate for draw-bridges



(No Model.)

H. J. ROHLF.

SAFETY GATE FOR DRAW BRIDGES.

Nrrnn STATES HENRY JOHN ROIILF, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY-GATE FOR DRAW-BRIDG ES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,176, dated March 81, 1891.

Application filed January 24, 1891. Serial No. 378,886. (No model.)

T all whom. t may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY JOHN RoHLF, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Gates to Guard Railroad-Crossings and Draw-Bridges, of which the 'following is a specification.

My invention relates to safety-gates adapted to be placed in position to obstruct or close the highway where the same crosses a railroad or a draw-bridge when such railroad or drawbridge is dangerous or impassable g and the object of my invention is to obtain a gate made of wood, iron, or wood and iron or other suitable material, constructed and placed in position to be slid upward and obstruct the highway or downward and not obstruct the saine at the will of the operator or operators, and which will, when the gate is slid up, antoinatically expose to view on the highway a danger-signal.

I have illustrated my invention by the drawings accompanying this specification and forming a part hereof, in which Y Figurel is a longitudinal sectional view of a draw-bridge to which niy invention is attached; Fig. 2, a plan View of a portion of the draw-bridge and of the safety-gate at one end thereof; Fig. 3, an elevation of a portion of the working parts of the safety-gate on line 3 of Fig. l, viewed in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 4, a top plan view of one of the posts of the safety-gate; Fig. 5, a sectional View of such post on line 5 5 of Fig. l; Fig. 6, a longitudinal sectional view of one of the posts of the safety-gate, showing a portion of the gate partially raised and showing the counterbalance-weight in the post; Fig. 7, an elevation of a verticalsha-ft and worm thereon interlneshing with a cog-wheel on the horizontal shaft, by which motion is communicated to the safety-gate when desired, viewed on line 7 7 of Fig. 1.

Like letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views thereof.

X is a draw-bridge.

X X are wheels or rollers on which the bridge revolves when being operated, and X2 is the frame-work in which the wheels or rollers X are secured.

' A A are posts, placed, respectively, on each side of the highway or street and by the side of a railroad or at the ends of a draw-bridge.

a` is a groove formed by flanges a a on post A.

B is a gate.

B is a head secured on the upper end of gateB. This gate B is designed when not in use to be lowered into a trench crossing the highway or in front of the abutments of a draw-bridge between the bridge and the abutment, and when in use to be elevated from such trench or from the face of such abutment into position to obstruct the highway, and the head B referred to overhangs the gate B, so as to close the opening into the trench or between the draw-bridge and the abutment, through which opening'the gate moves up and down, and to form a part of the roadway of the highway over which teams and pedestrians may travel.

C Care pulleys journaled in the top post A. l

C is a chain, cable, or cord secured at one end to the gate B, passing over the pulley O, and secured at the other end to counterbalance-weight C2. There horse-car tracks are laid upon the highway or street where this safety-gate is used, the grooves D D in the head B allow the horse-car wheels to pass over the head B Without appreciable jar or jolt.

E is a horizontal shaft which may be turned by crank c in bearings or supports e c. On shaft E is placed beveled wheel'E, internieshing with beveled wheel F on vertical shaft F; Where the gate is to be moved by hand, this shaft E, with crank e thereon and beveled gear-wheel E or its equivalent, is required; but where the safety-gate is actuated by steam or other power placed above the roadway of draw-bridge, as may readily be done, such shaft E may be dispensed with and the shaft F continued upward to and properly 'coni nected with a steam or other actuated engine.

G is a horizontal shaft underneath the bridge Vor highway rotatably held in journals g, and G is a cog-wheel rigidly secured on shaft G and intermeshing with worm F2, which is rigidly secured on vert-ical shaft F.

G2 is a beveled wheel rigidly secured on shaft G and interineshing with beveled wheel H on horizontal shaft H, which is placed at right angles tothe shaft G and parallel with the face `of the gate B.

h 7L arc the journals in which the shaft lil revolves.

H2 is a cog-wheel rigidlysecured on shaft II and intermeshing with geared rack Ion the gate B.

There this safety-gate is placed upon a highway at or near a swinging or rotatable draw-bridge therein, the cog-wheel I-I2 is made oval in longitudinal section, as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, so that as such wheel H2is slid into the teeth on the rack I the teeth on the cog-wheel Il2 and the teeth on the rack I shall not abut against each other, and this construction or forni of cog-wheel H2 may be employed when this safety-gate is placed as a guard for railroad crossings. Ilence no change is necessarily required in the construction of this safety-gate for the guarding of a draw-bridge or a railroad-crossing.

Itwill be observed that the horizontal shaft G may be cut in two, if desired, and a suitably-connected crank or other means of attachin g the two parts of the shaft G supplied, and thereby either of the gates raised orlowered independently of the other thereof.

j is a lantern placed on rotatable table J', provided therefor on posts A.

J is a vertical shaft having the rotatable table J at the upper end thereof and cogwheel .Vatthe lower end thereof and turning freely in journals J3, which are secured to the post A.

Il is a -worni wheel or gear secured rigidly to the shaft of pulleys C and intermeshing with the cogs on wheel J2. It will be observed that as the gate is raised or lowered the cord or cable or chain C', passing over the pulleys C, will cause such pulleys to revolve, and through the worm K and cog-wheel J 2 rotate the revolving table J and the lantern z7' on such rotatable table J. By making the lantern j of the ordinary four-sided type with two oi' the glasses thereof red and two thereof white and placing such lantern on the rotatable table J', so that when the gate is down a white light shall be exposed to view on the highway and when the gate is up a red light shall be exposed to view thereon, a very effective automatic danger signal is obtained for such highway and for the railroad-crossing or the river spanned by the draw-bridge- L L are rollers against which the gate B presses or with which such gate is brought in contact in its upward or downward movement.

'lhe operation of this invention is as follows: In order to elevate the safety-gate, the shaft F is revolved, as by the crank e, the horizontal shaft G being thereby slowly revolved through worm F2 on vertical shaft F intermeshing with cog-wheel G on such horizontal shaft G, and the shaft II is thereby rotated through the intermeshing beveled gearwheels G2 and I-I. Gear-wheel H2 on shaft H being thereby rotated and such cog-wheel H2 intermeshin g with the rack I, suchrack is ele vated or depressed, according to the direction of the revolution of the several shafts and wheels thereon just deseribed,and the gate B, to which the rack I is secured, is thus elevated into position, obstructing the highway or depressed out of such highway into the trench therefor or into the space between the draw-bridge and the abutment, as described. As the gate is thus raised or lowered, tbelantern j is turned, exposing to view a red or white light, as is desired and hereinbefore described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a safety-gate extending across the highway and adapted to be raised into the highway or depressed therefrom into a trench provided therefor, the combination of a gate, posts forming guides for the gate and snpports for counterbalancc-weights attached by cords to the gate, pulleys over which such cords pass and by which the pulleys are rotated, a vertical rotatable shaft actuated by the pulley, and a horizontal table secured on the upper end of the vertical shaft and rotat able therewith and adapted to have a lantern placed thereon, substantially as described.

The combination of a vertically-movable gate, posts forming guides for the gate and supports for pulleys over which cords attached at one end to the gate and at the other end to counterbalance-weights therefor pass, a rack secured to the gate, a horizontal shaft nnderneath the roadway of the highway, a coz,- wheel on such horizontal shaft intermeshing with the rack on the gate, a shaft above the roadway of the highway connected to and adapted to actuate the iirst-named shaft, and an overhangng head secured to the upper edge of the gate and adapted to forni a part of the roadway of the highway when the gate is depressed in the guides' therefor on the posts, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a vertically-111ovable gate, posts forming guides for the gate and supports for pulleys over which cords attached at one end to the gate and at the other end to counterbalance-weights therefor pass, a rack secured to the gate, a horizontal shaft underneath the roadway of the highway, a cogwheel on such horizontal shaft intermeshing with the rack on the gate, a shaft above the roadway of the highway connected to and adapted to actuate the first-named shaft, a vertical rotatable shaft actuated by a pulley over which the cord connecting one of the counterbalance-weights and the gate passes, and a horizontal table secured on the upper end of the vertical shaft and rotatable therewith, substantially as described.

fl. The combination of a vertically-movable gate, posts forming guides for the gate and supports for pulleys over which cords attached at one end to the gate and at 'the other end to counterbalance-weights therefor pass, a rack secured to the gate, a horizontal shaft under- IOO ITO

heath the roadway of the highway, a oogwheel on such horizontal shaft intermeshing with the rack on the gate, a shaft above the roadway of the highway connected to and adapted to aotuate the first-named shaft, a vertical rotatable shaft actuated by the pulley over which the oord connecting one of the counterbalanoe-weights and the gate passes, a horizontal table secured on the upper end 1o of the vertical shaft and rotatable therewith,

and an overhanging head secured lo the upper edge 0f the gate and forming a part of the roadway of the highway when the gate is depressed in the guides therefor on the posts, substantially as described.

HENRY JOHN ROHLF.

Witnesses:

CHARLES T. BROWN, F. L. BROWN. 

